My Michigan Travel Bucket List

My family LOVES to travel - in case you haven't caught on yet from my previous posts ;-)  We especially like to spend time in California!  One of our friends made a comment once that we should try to spend more time enjoying the beauty of our home state - Michigan.  Well, he was right.  There are a lot of great things that are so easy for us to get to.  So, I started thinking about what I would regret not seeing in Michigan if we moved.  Some of these are ironically places that people from out of the state ask me about and I regretfully have no advice to give them.  Can you imagine - some people from other states want to travel all the way to Michigan to see things that I haven't even explored?!?

To start my list I figured that I better clarify that I have already been to a few places in Michigan:

• Binder Park Zoo
• Detroit Zoo
• Millennium Park - Grand Rapids
• Road Trip From Grand Rapids to Marquette pt 1
• Road Trip From Grand Rapids to Marquette pt 2
• Marquette
• Pictured Rocks National Park and Munising
• Great Wolf Lodge - Traverse City pt 1
• Great Wolf Lodge - Traverse City pt 2
• Coopersville and Marne Historic Railway
• Anderson and Girls Orchard
• Post Family Farm
• Double JJ Ranch
• Muskegon Drive-In Theater
• Soaring Eagle Waterpark
• Indian Trails Dairy Farm
• Crossroads Village and Huckleberry Railroad: Halloween Ghost Train
• Nelis' Dutch Village
• Pentwater and Silver Lake
• Blandford Nature Center
• Mackinaw Island:  I can't believe I haven't blogged on this yet....

And now for the places I want to visit "before I leave Michigan":

• Sleeping Bear Dunes:  Recognized as one of the most beautiful places.
• Copper Peak:  For the view in the summer/fall - I am NOT interested in skiing it!
• Pirate Chasers Sails:  Although this has moved down on my list since we just did two of these same type of tours in 2013.  I did buy tickets for this the summer of 2012 but the trip was canceled due to high waves.
• Iron Mountain Iron Mines
• Copper Mines
• Boyne Mountain:  Not for skiing! but for the zip lines, cool swimming pool, and for Avalanche Bay.
• Tahquamenon Falls:  I visited this place as a kid but how have I not gone back with my kiddos?!?!
• Musical Fountain
• Crystal Mountain:  Not for the skiing!!!  They have an Alpine slide, chair lift ride, and weekly luaus!
• Isle Royale National Park:  I really don't know much about this park except that my dad worked there for a summer and that it is supposed to be beautiful.
• Sugarloaf Mountain hike:  Located in Marquette.  I hiked this a few times in my life but it has been a few years.  Plus, I want my kiddos to experience it. The views are amazing!!!
• Call of the Wild:  A store/museum in Gaylord.  I have been to Gaylord many times but not since I heard about this place.  I think it would be a great break from the car for the kiddos on our next trip to upper Michigan!
• Oswald's Bear Ranch
• Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park
• Christmas at Crossroads

The East side of the state...  There has to be more - right?  We have been to Monster Jam in Detroit, the Detroit Zoo, and to the Hard Rock Cafe....  What else is there in Eastern Michigan?  Detroit is the motor capital of the world so there has to be more to discover!

Any other places I should consider?